The Midwest: Potential Hotspot for Deadly ‘Moist Heat Stress’

Large parts of the world, including China and the Midwest US, are on track to become too hot for humans to handle as accelerating global temperatures expose billions to heat and humidity so extreme their bodies will no longer be able to cope, according to a new study.

Researchers used temperature and humidity data along with climate models to analyze humanity’s exposure to potentially lethal heat as the world warms, looking at a range of temperature increases from 1.5 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

They found that above 2 degrees Celsius of warming, a significant portion of the world’s population will be vulnerable to ‘moist heat stress’ with devastating consequences for human health, according to the study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The world has already warmed around 1.2 degrees Celsius.